Wonderful Wednesday!

Hello everyone, hope your week is going great so far.  I've been busy in the craft room.  I have several secret swaps I'm in.  Most of them revolve around sewing and the one I'm working on right now is for a pin case swap.  Now, I know what your thinking...a pin case is something small and holds a few pins, right?  Well, I'm taking a creative liberties with my pin case and making a pin album of sorts.  I've had this very cool chipboard book laying around for a while.  Really since the first Twilight movie came out.  I thought I would make a book for each movie, but that kind of fizzelout out once 50 shades came about;)  So, my re purpose of this little jem of a book is this....

I stamped the front with every single stamp from PTI Button Boutique along with the dressform stamp in classic kraft ink for this weeks Papertrey Ink MIM challenge. 

I'm a little bummed that the fabric looks discolored on my first page so may have to start the inside over.  It kind of looks vintage tea died, but I'm not sure how that happened :(  It looks worse in the photo then irl, any idea how to fix that? 

Just Another Manic Monday.....

but I really don't wish it were Sunday, because I just prefer fundays!  Ok, ok I'll stop now and get to the important stuff! 

I wanted to share with you the pincushion I made out of a vintage perfume decanter.  At least that's what I think it was. Ed and I went antiquing just to look for some fun things to re purpose. Now I want to find several different size decanters and make a few of them to decorate my craft room.  Luckily I live in central PA where there is no shortage of antique malls. 

And here she is just sitting on my desk.

I just love it!  I think I squealed when she turned out perfect the first time!

 I didn't have to touch my seem ripper once! 

The fabric is from  fat quarter bundle from the Rose of Sharin Quilt shop in Danville, PA. 

If your ever in the area be sure to stop in.  It's a great quilt shop and they have an awesome sale room with fat quarter bundles for 6$. I get a few every time I go.  It's like candy;) 

I trimmed the bottom with a piece of vintage lace, held on with stick pins.

 I can't remember where they are from, they have pearl tops and clear jem tops. 

The waist trim is Webster's Pages, and the stamped tag is a Papertrey Ink Stamp and die cut tag, tied with twine and held in place with a Websters Pages stick pin.  Gotta say <3 nbsp="" p="" those="">

And finally a little cluster of items to finish my pretty little dress form pin cushion. There is a little bit of everything in there, but the cut ribbon in back is Webster's trim, then burlap from PTI, then a Webster's doily in black, a prima blosom, a little piece of ribbon and finished with a Webster's accent.  Can you tell I'm a fan of Webster's embellies?! 

 Have you found the Webster's sprinkles box yet?  I am in no way affiliated with or compensated for saying this.  But it's the best 10$ I've spent in a long time! Truly it was like sending a little gift to myself! First the box they send it in is so darn cute I had to reuse it to send my SS a gift.  Then the paper that they use to pack the box is a 24inch piece of Webster's paper that you can totally use.  Then the March box had a full box of the most beautiful stick pins, a card of doilies, and a little spring colored cookie treat complete with SPRINKLES!  I can't wait for April! 

Thanks for stopping by and hope your week is SPRINKLED with happiness! 

I added a few more photos, I seem to be taking very dark pics and not sure why.  One day I'll take a photo 101 course!

Happy Easter Weekend!

I found some extra time to play in my craft room today so thought I would play along with a challenge or 2.  I'm looking for some good card challenges so if you know of any hook me up:)  I did happen across CAS(E) this sketch on my Bloglovin meandering today so thought I would combine the sketch with PTI's MIM # 109, which is water color stamping with embossing.  It's a fun technique, but I have to warn you it's a bit messy! 

 

I love the softness this technique adds to stamping. 

Thanks PTI for the MIM technique and

and Thanks CAS(E) for the fun sketch. 

 

Happy Easter, Happy Passover! 

 

What are you working on?

One of my friends posed just that question on her blog last week.  She posts her What are you working on projects on Wednesday, but I already try to post Whip it Up Wednesdays or Wordless Wednesday, I just don't need another Wednesday.  So I thought it would be nice to share what I'm working on before the weekend starts, then next week I can share what I accomplished over the weekend.  It seems to work in my head anyway, we will see how it works here. 

So for this week I've been busy.  Last weekend my husband and I went out antiquing.  I was looking for some fun items to make into pin cushions.  I found several vintage perfume decanters, with the cutest little bobble lids.  And some white vases. Immediately I had the perfect idea.  So I've been working on these.  Totally re purposed, and so much fun!  I'll show you Monday. 

 

Next, is my sewing machine cover.  I pieced this then did most of the hand sewn binding while driving to West Virginia.  I just have one little piece to finish.  But I've been using it.  Really does help to keep the dust off my machine.  I need to make another now for my serger. 

 

 

 I also completed these card kit swaps for a Christmas in July card kit swap over at Split Coast Stampers.  I had so much fun putting together both traditional and non traditional colored kits. I can't wait to see the cards with the lavender and Christmas tree.  I'm thinking they will be stunning. 

 

 

 And lastly I participated in the virtual quilt retreat on the Quilting Board forum.  Carolyn did a fabulous job putting together the directions for a braided table runner.  I took a little break to travel with Ashlyn this week so I'll be working on this today. The center block is my first Dresden. It took me a bit to figure it out, but now that I know how to do them it will go so much smoother.  It really does give you a new perspective as to how they used to hand sew everything.  I will cherish every hand made quilt I own! I truly know the labor of love that went into them.

 

 

I just love the bright colors, I can't wait to see how it turns out. 

 Hopefully I'll be able to finish this this week as well. 

 

I also wanted to invite you to join the Pincushion and Pin Book swap on QuiltingBoard.com.  You can make either or both and you will get the same in return.  They also do Secret Pal swaps, I just joined my first one HERE. 

I just love getting swap packages in the mail, hope you consider joining. 

Would love to see what you make :)

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous weekend!

 

Wordless Wednesday

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

Hello everyone! Hope you are having a fabulous Monday! I'm in the Burg as the locals call it.  I'm traveling a few days with my daughter while she works. We were in a hurry to Ed out earlier then expected today because its supposed to snow here again. We are expecting 6 inches tomorrow. To say I'm ready for winter to be over is an understatement! I need the warm sun, bare feet and the house open. Luckily we are on the countdown to a Caribbean vacation!

Luckily I packed my clothes earlier in the morning and didn't forget anything, but as for my crop bag I brought along, it seems I always forget something. This time I brought, stamps, dies, ink, paper...all the essentials one would think. I get started making some barrettes and realize I totally forgot to bringa stamp  block? I had to improvise! So what would you use for a stamp block in. Hotel room? I used this....

My iPhone! Don't you just love the cover. It really is a useful tool. From yelping dinner restaurants to stamping, now how versatile is that!?

And here is my very limited supply PTI blog hop challenge.  This months challenge was to use sequins. I had to google sequins. Of course I google everything, but I wanted to make sure the ones I was using counts as actual sequins.  These little flower sequins have been laying in my little desktop bowl of embellishments forever. I'm so glad I saved them, they worked perfectly for this challenge.

They were so fun to make, and already have a home.  Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous week!  See you Wednesday for my next post.

Covert Robin Gift I made!

My secret Covert Robin partner should be getting her package today. 

I made her a 16X16 pillow cover. I love how it turned out.  The photos really doesn't do it justice if I do say so myself.  I used quilt store fabric mixed with the black skull fabric from Wal-Mart. 

 

 I didn't know much about my partner with the exception of her first blog post, which told me she liked skulls.  I tried to keep the colors neutral so she could use it in a living or bedroom as a throw pillow. 

Hopefully she will like it as much as I liked making it! 

 

Have a great weekend! 

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Whip it up Wednesday!

I was getting ready to take a huge pile of clothes to the Goodwill, but decided to upcycle a sweater instead. Today I made a little remote pillow. Isn't it crazy how often the remote gets lost, I thought it would be nice to have a little useful place to keep it.

Now that I'm looking at this photo I may have to add a little color to it and retake the photo outside. Although for the first dy of spring, it sure isn't looking like winter will go out gracefully. 

I entered this in the .moxie Fab winter home decor contest, be sure to check out what everyone is whipping up on the Moxie Fab blog.  

Thanks for stopping by and see you soon:)

Bloglovin....

So with the changes to google coming about and blog reader being retired I thought I would venture out to try to find an acceptable replacement. I think I may have found just that. This morning while having my soft cooked egg and tea I was easily able to get to all the blogs I follow within the one email bloglovin sent me. From there I had the choice to open bloglovin to view my followed blogs or simply scroll through the email to see if anything caught my eye. For the next few days ill list both the pros and cons here to determine if bloglovin is a keeper, or if I will have to search for another option.  You can try bloglovin yourself if you like, would love to hear about the options you are trying.

http://www.bloglovin.com/

Pros-
1.  very easily converts current reading list to bloglovin reading list
2.  Sends one email with a daily update.
3. Has an app for easy smart phone portability
4. You can add groups to sort the blogs you follow.....sewing friends, scrapping friends, food to stay away from....ect.


Cons-
Can not directly pin from feed, I have found I have to like a post to facebook and pin from there. If someone finds an easier work around please let me know.

A card....

I was inspired today to make this card by this persons cards, used the technique in this PTI MIM challenge, and all the while stamping joyfully over the fact that I just won a  blog contest by
Therm O Web!  What a great Monday this is turning out to be! 

Covert Robbin Gift

 

Happy Monday! What a fun mail day! I was lucky enough to get my Covert Robin gift today. I was just finishing up my gift when my daughter came in with the mail. I had to take a break and share my fabulous gift!

 

The Covert Robin is a secret gift exchange. Where you make a $20. gift and send it to your assigned partner. My partner was Kathry! Kathryn made me this fabulous artist journal cover. Its perfect for a sketch pad and your favorite pens and pencils.

 

 

 

Thanks so much Kathryn!  I look forward to another secret handmade gift exchange.  If you know of any coming up, please keep me in mind. 

 

Have a great week!

TAG, your it!

I love making tags. I think it's the instant gratification of how quickly they come together.  And they are a great way to dress up simple packages or bags. I love making everything I send out or give look like a pretty present. Don't we all just love unwrapping surprises?!

 I made a few to share with you today.  

This is my final pin cushion for the Hat Pin swap I'm in. The embellishments are cut with PTI dies and the fabric is Moda.

 

And here are some of the tags I used to package the pin cushions and hat pins. I pulled out a few of my PTI anniversary sets for these projects. 

For the next two tags I stamped the blooms with the back side of the stamp first with a lighter color then stamped the actual stamp with a darker color.  I love the demension it adds to the blooms. 

 

That's all I've got for today but stop back Wednesday for another brilliant photo from my everyday life. Ok, so maybe not brilliant but I will certainly be sharing one of my favorite crafts from this week. 

Have an awesome week, and thanks so much for commenting. It really does add a smile to my day!

Whip it up Wednesday

 

How is this for cuteness?!   

 

 

 

Hope you are whipping something up this Wednesday! 

Happy Monday!

Hope you took some time to do something for yourself this weekend. It's so important to take care of ourselves so we can take care of those we love.  I've been trying to exercise more, sleep on a schedule, rest when I have to and stay hydrated. For me that means sipping hot tea almost constantly.

Today's creative share is a pincushion I made for the splitcoast stampers hat pin swap.  The swap is on its way back, I can't wait to see all the unique hat pins that I get back.  These are a few of the pins I made.

When I saw this idea I just had to try it. The entire hat is cut with spell binders scalloped dies. The trim is Websters and the flower is Prima.

To make the pins I used salt dough.

Recipe
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1cup water

Mix with your hands a roll out.  Then I used stamps and die ink to stamp directly onto the dough. I didn't have little tiny cookie cutters so I cut my dough bu hand.

 Once the dough was cut I put a pin in each on and placed them on a cookie sheet.

Here is my messy counter while I was having fun.

 I tried both older stamping up and new papertrey ink inks and they both worked equally well.

I then baked them at 250 *F for an hour and a half, then turn the oven off and leave them in the oven until they cool.  Once they are cool apply sever layers of spray modge podge. I sealed them each side 3 times, letting each coat of sealer dry 15 minutes. Then let them sit overnight as they will be sticky. 

I'm thinking this is something you could get very creative with. If you give it arty I would love to see.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week! 

TGIF!

I always love Fridays! To me Friday is all about hanging with the family, going out to dinner and starting off the weekend.  I'm so happy it's almost spring, Rita's opened here and I'm just waiting for things to warm up so I can break out the new spring dresses. I'm always cold so I only wear dresses in the winter for very special occasions.  One more month and ill have a week of wearing dresses in the Caribbean, I'm so excited! 

Today's share is one of my favorite pin books I made for the hat pin swap at Splitcoast Stampers. The fabric is Moda and the felt is from Papertrey Ink.  I used heat and bond to adhere the letters and flowers. 

These are some of the inside pages.  

 I used stazon and stamped on canvas. Heat and bond works great with the canvas!  I loved the mini friendship jar.

The book turned out a little smaller then I would have liked but I used my new serger to cut and sew the fabric I had pre-quilted.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fun weekend!

Wordless Wednesday!

Hola Monday!

Hope you had a fabulous weekend!  I've been playing with a new stamp set that needed to see some ink.  I just received my February Papertrey Ink package and in the package was the Birds In Bloom, this years anniversary set.  It's very pretty, with lots of little flowers and vines. 


While searching some of my favorite internet places this morning I came upon CAS-ual Fridays blog, which led me to CAS-ual Fridays stamps, which I now am in need of:)  The CAS-ual Fridays blog hosts a challenge weekly and I thought I would play along this week. This weeks challenge is to make your own background.  I made my own background using Birds In Bloom on a mailing tag. 

I have wanted to try adding new colors in unusual ways so I thought I would try stamping the leaves and vines in smokey shadow.  I think I'll be using this technique more often. 

 

The tag is for the packaging to go along with my Mad Hatter pin cushion. 

 

I use PTI and felt and ribbon a a prima embellishment to complete the hat.  I love how it turned out!
Thanks so much for stopping by and we will see you next for Wordless Wednesday.  Have a fabulous week!

 

PTI Make it Monday #105

Make it Monday on Sunday!  Of course any day is a good day to make something and today's project just happens to be my Make it Monday project for this weeks challenge.  The challenge is to make your own glitter border.   I used the filigree die and Martha Steward glitter, then finished the Melissa Frances tag envelope with PTI Pretty Peonies stamps and patterned paper. 

My husband is busy in the kitchen making us lobster for dinner, so I'm going to run and watch:)  See you tomorrow when I share one of the pincushions I made this week. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Determined.....

That's my word for the month of March!  My first determined goal is to blog more frequently. I just hope I don't fall into the category of "In like a Lion, Out like a Lamb". I have a few projects in mind that I should be able to post at least weekly, if not twice a week.  And honestly how often do you really care to read my ramblings!? 

The Hat Pin/Corsage Pin and Holder swap at Split Coast is coming to an end so I thought as I package up my projects I would share them with you.  For my first project I really had my heart set on making a tea pot pin cushion.  I only found one pattern on pinterest and it just didn't come out to my liking.  So I sat down in my studio and went to work on an idea for a tea pot pin holder.  I think for a first try it came out very cute.  I even kept the pattern and jotted some notes for next time.  The best part about the project I was able to combine stashed fabric as well as some of my favorite dies. 

The entire project can be made with a fat quarter with fabric to spare. 

 I used PTI dies to cut the leaves and tags.  I embroidered the leaves to give them an extra pop of color.  I cut the back tag on burlap and the front tag on canvas.  PTI stamp for Tea for Two then I used fusible web to adhere all three pieces then added a few machine stitches to make sure they were secure.  I finished it by pulling a piece of burlap apart for the string for the bow and tied it to a bow.  I still used a needle and thread to secure the button and ribbon because I hope the recipient actually uses the pin holder. 

 The inside I added some simple embellishments to hod the pins and made the pages a little prettier. 

And that's my teapot pin book.  Thanks so much for stopping by and have a fabulous weekend!